It is my belief that international wrestling--yes wrestling--played a role in the historic Iranian Nuclear deal. You see, in 2013, Iran won the world championships in freestyle wrestling, beating out Russia, which had dominated for decades. (The United States finished fifth.).
Last year, the Iranians won the Greco-Roman wrestling world championships. In their part of the world, amateur wrestling is like football and baseball combined in the United States. The country is crazy about it.
By winning these championships, it has--if my hypothesis is correct--had a "Lake Placid hockey effect" on their nation. They walked a little prouder, felt good about themselves, maybe became more approachable at the bargaining table.
Over the last decade, America has sent teams over to wrestle in Iran, and they have been met with the loudest cheers, especially for Olympic Gold Medalist and World Champion Jordan Burroughs of the University of Nebraska (and New Jersey before that). They appreciate excellence and want to be fans of our wrestling stars. We have been having, with no fanfare, the wrestling equivalent of the Chinese-American Ping-Pong diplomacy of the early 1970s.
Here is a video put on youtube by an Iranian showing American star Jordan Burroughs wrestling and greeting Iranian fans in Tehran. Listen to the cheers! Watch as he slaps hands with at least 85 wrestling-crazy Iranian fans! There's also a short snippet of some world class grappling:
Of course I believe the sanctions and the threat of a tactical nuclear attack were the major motivators, but I bet you that wrestling played a role.
Right now, the United States is playing host to the wrestling world championships in Las Vegas. This is going on as the embargo against Iran is set to be lifted in about one week. If you get a chance this weekend, watch and listen to the coverage on ESPN. You will see some great wrestling, and you will hear the loudest cheers coming from the largest fan contingent in the place--the Iranians and Iranian-Americans.
By the way, the Women's competition has already seen two Americans win Gold Medals: Adeline Gray and Helen Maroulis. Japan's Saori Yoshidi won her 13th straight world championship. That's mind-destroying! Iran does not have a Women's team, unfortunately, but, hey, baby steps.
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